Carter Judson is five years old. “Almost six really,” he told me Monday afternoon as he, his mom and baby sister came to Memorial Gardens at the National Museum of the MIghty 8th Air Force.

They were attending an event titled “Operation Eclipse.” The point: to be part of history in terms of seeing the total solar eclipse (a coast to coat event that hasn’t happened for 99 years.)

And Carter couldn’t wait, telling me he’d watched a video at school. “And it showed the moon blocking the sun. “I want to see what it’s like being inside the eclipse,” he said.

So he knew what he wanted to see. His mom, Ziyah was just worried it wouldn’t turn out that way especially after we heard thunder. “i really thought the weather was going to clear up,” she told me.

Several dozen others gathered outside, including a large group of insurance representatives that had been holding a meeting inside. “We broke just to see the eclipse,” one woman told me. “It’s disappointing but maybe it will still clear up in time,” another man said.

No such luck. It did get darker, but it was hard to tell if it was just the storm clouds or the eclipse.

Some, like Carter, may have the chance to be part of history again in their lifetime, even if it had been 99 years since the last total solar eclipse.